


"Six's" Hunger

by LifezVictory



Series: Shadow Sisters [2]
Category: Little Nightmares (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Amnesia, Angst, Curses, Feels, Gen, Good Six (Little Nightmares), Guilt, Mind Manipulation, Shadow Sisters AU (Little Nightmares), Shadow Six (Little Nightmares) redemption, Six (Little Nightmares) is a cinnamon roll, Six's hunger (Little Nightmares)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-01-24
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:54:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27920077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LifezVictory/pseuds/LifezVictory
Summary: A retelling of the hunger scenes in the Shadow Sisters AU. Or: four times Six's hunger curse got the better of her, and the one time Triple wouldn't allow it. May contain gore in later chapters.
Relationships: Shadow Six & Six (Little Nightmares)
Series: Shadow Sisters [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1901089
Comments: 5
Kudos: 28
Collections: The Gen Sub Hub





	1. Bread

**Author's Note:**

> So I'm trying my hand at writing something slightly darker than usual. It won't be as gory as **some** fics out there, but just a headsup just in case.

When Six first awoke in a giant suitcase on what seemed to be a gigantic ship, she wasn't afraid. Confused? Definitely, without a doubt. But fear just wasn't an emotion or even so much as a possibility in her mind. Sure, she had no clue where she was or how she got there, but it was better then that terrible nightmare she had just awoken from. **Anything** was better than that nightmare. Six didn't know why that dream filled her up with dread the way that it did, but then again she didn't know why **anything** was the way it was at the moment.

 _But I could learn,_ the thought hit her like a lightning bolt, followed shortly by the thunder of resolve. Six would find out who she was, where she was, and why she was there.

* * *

She started getting the feeling not long after starting her journey. It was like a cold breath, a tingling on the back of her neck. _Somebody is watching me,_ she realized with dread. But who? Who would be interested in her journey? And why did it feel like they, whoever they were, expected something from her? Waiting for her to do something, or something to happen to her. And whatever it was, it didn't seem like something good. Whoever it was that would watch Six so intently in a place like this couldn't possibly wish her well. She wasn't sure how she knew this but she did. Knew it with more certainty than her own name.

* * *

**It** happened out of nowhere, with no warning whatsoever. One minute Six was right as rain, watching with mild interest as a rat scurried away from her. _They sure do have a lot of rats around here; I wonder what they do to—_ She never finished that thought, for suddenly a loud insistent grumbling erupted from her stomach, followed by an even more insistent pain. It was as though someone's fist had wrapped around her innards and was squeezing them together without abandon.

 **Then it stopped.** No pain, no grumbling, **nothing.** Like before, she felt completely fine. She was just about to wonder if she'd somehow imagined the whole thing somehow when it happened again, with even more vengence. _What's happening to me?_ The girl wondered, groaning in ppain as she began slowly forward. _Why am I so... so..._ This time the pain didn't let up all the way, staying around with lesser aches and rumblings.

 _...Hungry._ That's what the feeling was, hunger. But it was more desperate and primal than any human's should ever be. Six needed food, and she needed it **now!**

Through the shadows swimming before her deep brown eyes, Six noticed that she was nearing a cafeteria. It was completely vacant, save for a thin shadow of a boy eating a meager meal alone. But at least he **had** something to eat, he was free to feed himself while Six was suffering with nothing!

The boy seemed to have read her thoughts, or maybe he just knew what someone desperately in need of help looked like, for he stood, tossing a piece of bread through the bars. Six was on top of it before it hit the floor completely and had gulped three large chunks of it down before she really registered what was going on. -it didn't matter what the bread tasted like, if it was fresh, or if it was dirty or stale. All that mattered was getting as much of it as possible inside of her as quick as possible. That way she could be rid of this terrible hunger as soon as- **WAIT WHAT IS THAT?**

A wisp of blackness, shadow being casted where it shouldn't have been able to. Right next to her. She swallowed her last bite and wipped her head around, but saw nothing. The only indication that something was amiss was the flickering lights overhead.

 _What was that?_ Six was slightly in shock as she picked herself up off the floor, wiping the stray breadcrumbs from her coat. Had it not been for them and the boy standing behind the bars looking as uncomfortable and disturbed as Six felt, she would have thought she'd imagined the whole... **episode.**

There was something so eery and surreal about what had just happened, and it also felt kind of violating in a way that the girl couldn't quite put into words, not even in her mind. There was just something so... **wrong** and unnatural about the whole thing. Not to mention that feeling of being watched was back, and it was stronger than ever. Six wondered if the boy felt it, too?

"S-sorry about that," Six croaked hoarslely, her voice sounding nasty from disuse. "I-I don't know what came over me." As she hobbled away from the cafeteria, still feeling extremely unsettled, she mused to herself that truer words had probably never been spoken. Suddenly having a thought she glanced over her shoulder. "Thanks for helping me," she called before walking away.

* * *

Unbenounced to Six, someone really was watching her. **She** crouched in the darkness, unseen by Six and the boy. Well, almost. She would need to be careful not to slip up again like that in the future. If she was more careful, then surely that curse would have warped Six's mind in no time flat. All **she** needed to do now was wait...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest I'm not quite sure how this chapter turned out, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.


	2. Meat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies if the location descriptions aren't accurate; I'm pretty much blind so I have to rely on YouTube videos and other people's fics for them.

_I need to get out of here._ It wasn't hard for Six to come to that conclusion. What with encountering gigantic leaches, imprisoned children and the creepy guy who guards them, it wasn't really the hardest decision to make. What **was** difficult however, was the way to do so. Six didn't know which way she needed to go to find an exit, and even if she did there was still the trouble of escaping a ship that was probably in the middle of the ocean somewhere. _And I'm not sure if I can swim or not. Was my life this hard before I lost my memories?_ Six wondered grumpily.

_Or was it always so hard to find food? Wait, what?_

A squelching rumble, an insistent pain. _Really? Again?_

_Find food, NOW!_

Of **course** Six wouldn't be lucky enough for that hunger to be a weird one-time occurrence. She was learning very quickly that her luck really wasn't the greatest.

This time, the hunger sunk its fangs into the girl much more viciously, and she fell to her knees hard. She barely noticed that however, for the pain in her stomach was so intense now that it was difficult to notice anything else. But she did notice something. And once she did, it was all she could hear.

At first she thought it was only the pounding of her heartbeat, but there was another sound making its presence known. It was a song. A haunting tune that seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at the same time. It sounded like it was being hummed by someone around Six's age, and Six might have appreciated said person's talent more were it not for the fact that it seemed to be making her hunger a lot worse somehow.

Six pushed herself up again, noting a few rats scuttling around nearby. They didn't have nearly as much meat as she would have liked, but if she could catch one it would do. It might even be tasty. _Wait, what am I thinking?-food... Am I seriously considering-Food! ... eating something alive? What is wrong with me? FOOD!_

Her thoughts immediately came to an abrupt halt when she saw what was up ahead, a good sized pile of meat, ripe for the taking! So **what** if it was raw and she didn't know where it had come from; it was edible and that's all that mattered!

With the last ounce of her energy, Six lunged towards what to her deranged mind looked like a delicious feast. She grabbed it up in juicy squelching handfuls, shoving it into her mouth with more enthusiasm than a newly married couple feeding each other cake. The meat squished nastily between her teeth, her throat muscles working overtime to get the obscenely large mouthfuls into her stomach. As she ate, it was as though her mind had gone completely blank. Nothing else mattered but this moment; there was nothing else she should be doing but this. If she kept eating, she would soon be rid of this pain and—wait what was that creaking noise?

Six had just enough time to think _oh, cra-_ before the cage door she'd only just noticed was there slammed shut, and she was throne into abrupt, unyielding darkness.

* * *

"—iiiiiix..."

"Mmmph..." Six groaned as her consciousness slowly returned. She felt terrible. Her body hurt from slumping over in the cage, and there was a nasty metallic taste in her mouth. Not to mention her stomach felt as though she'd just swallowed a couple handfuls of clay. With a start she realized that creepy guy was back, and he was dragging away another poor kid in a cage. _Oh so that was the sound I heard, and not something saying my—_

"Siiiiix..."

 _Nope, that was definitely someone saying my name._ But who? Six looked around, but all the children around her were unconscious like she had been not too long ago, and creepy guy was now nowhere in sight.

"Six." That sounded like a child's voice, but there was also something otherworldly about it that she couldn't quite describe. And also kind of impatient.

"Six!" Yeah, definitely impatient. But what could they possibly want from her? Six was still extremely out of it. She could barely even remember how she'd gotten into this predicament.

"Six! For god's sake, **get up!"**

"Aaaah!" Six jumped up in surprise, banging her head hard on the top of the cage. "Ouch..."

The unseen voice chuckled openly. "Oh, good. You're still alive." It said once whoever it was had recovered. "Now then, are you thinking about coming out of there anytime soon?"

"How?" Six groaned, her voice sounding only slightly better than the last time she'd used it. "I'm trapped. I don't know how I could-uuuurrrp!" The pure rancid aftertaste of that burp, stomach acids mixed with an even stronger metallic flavor, stopped Six dead in her tracks. She gagged and nearly vomited, but something held her back, something she couldn't quite identify. "Oh, gross! 'Scuse me, sorry." Six mumbled awkwardly, fanning the putrid odor away with a slightly trembling hand. She really did feel sick. "I... weird things have been happening to me lately."

"Yeah, I noticed. I can't believe you didn't notice you were walking straight into a trap. The hunger's a lot stronger than I thought..."

"Wha?"

"Anyway, back to your question. These cages really aren't as well-made as they look. If you bash into it enough, it should pop right open."

Six frowned skeptically, cupping her sticky chin in her palm in thought. "Really?"

"Of course. Just run into the bars a couple times and you should be able to break out."

Six would have laughed were it not for the fact she still felt extremely sick. _If this is a voice in my head, I wish it would give me less ridiculous sounding advice._

"How come I can't see you?" Six wondered, looking around for the source of the crazy advice giver. The small motions of her head made her feel dizzy, and she closed her eyes in hopes of getting her bearings.

"I'm in the shadows." The voice replied as if that answered everything.

"Why don't you come out where I can see you?"

"Why should I?" The voice challenged. "I'm fine where I am, and you don't need to see me."

"No, but I **want** to see you. I feel like listening to random voices in a place like this would be a very bad idea. So unless you come out, I'm not coming outa this cage."

Six thought that ultimatum was stupid as soon as it left her mouth, and apparently the voice in the shadows did too. "Seriously? You would risk The Janitor carting you off to the kitchens just to see me? Really? ... Fine. I sure hope this is worth it."

And then, before Six could wrap her head around anything the voice had just revealed, Six found herself face to face with... another her. Or at least, that's what it seemed like. Same raincoat, same bangs, everything. Well except for the fact that the girl was made out of darkness.

Six felt like she should be scared or confused, but in reality all she could feel was awe. This entity was obviously magical, and even though she'd been through a lot of crap so far, being a nine-year-old girl Six was absolutely delighted. "Wow! You..."

"Not what you expected?"

"N-no, not really." Then something dawned on Six, making her start to smile. "Wait! You know my name! That means... that means we know each other, right?"

The shadow girl (who she now dubbed Shadow Six in her mind until she learned her actual name) seemed taken aback. Six couldn't imagine why. "Um... well... I suppose you could say that."

Six's smile widened and she sighed in relief. "Yay! You have no **idea** how happy I am to have finally met somebody nice around here. I mean there's the little cute things with the pointy hats, but they can't talk so they couldn't answer my questions. And I've got **a lot** of questions."

"And that's all well and good, but do you think maybe you could get out of that cage first?"

"Oh, yeah! Sorry." Now that Shadow Six had revealed herself and she seemed nice enough, Six felt as though her advice could be trusted. So she got shakily to her feet and rushed towards the bars. True to the shadow girl's word they gave a little bit, encouraging Six to run at them again. And again. And again. Until finally the cage toppled over and fell apart, allowed the girl to crawl out. "Yay! I'm free!" She squealed happily, jumping up and down and giggling. She stopped abruptly though as a troubling thought hit her. "Oh I hope the creepy guy didn't hear that..."

"The Janitor? Nah, he's quite a ways away right now. Anyway you said you had questions?"

"Oh, yes." Six groaned, feeling incredibly helpless and stupid. "I don't know where I am or how I got here... I don't even remember you." She said shamefully, hoping Shadow Six wouldn't be sad or mad that she'd forgotten about her. She knew she'd be upset if her friends didn't remember her... if she had any friends before this. Wow, that was a sad thought, but wait! It wasn't true! She had Shadow Six! And now she was back, and she would help her figure all of this out. It felt as though a huge weight had lifted from Six's shoulders; she was so relieved she didn't have to face this place alone anymore.

* * *

 **She** couldn't believe it. Her carefully laid out plan, fallen to pieces just like that. She wasn't supposed to reveal herself to Six. She was meant to stick to the shadows and let the curse do its thing. But it had been doing its thing in a way that **she** hadn't accounted for.

 **She** had to intervene, otherwise Six might not have woken up. And even if she had, she might not have escaped the cage, in which case **her** only hope of freedom would be nothing more than yet another meal. But now **her** only hope of freedom would not. Stop. Talking.

"So this is The Maw? Why is it called that? You mean they eat kids? And I would have been one of them if I'd stayed in that cage? What about The Janitor; what does he do? How does he know where the kids are if he's blind? You **sure** he didn't hear me escape?"

Although the strange thing was, there was a feeling **she** hadn't quite felt before alongside the annoyance. ... She was probably just upset that The Hunger Curse wasn't corrupting Six quite yet. Yeah, that was it. There could be a bright side to this. Perhaps with her closer proximity to Six, **she** could speed up the process? Yes... yes! This could do nicely.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed Six and Triple's first meeting; I feel like I couldn't have done it enough justice if I tried.


	3. Rat

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the super long wait; I had writer's block and wanted to make this chapter just right since it's where Six and Triple realize/start to realize that hey, this hunger thing? It's no joke. And yeah this is where things start getting nasty, so reader discretion is advised.

"...Whoa." Six stared at the beginnings of the kitchen before her, dumbfounded. "This is messed up. It's not that I didn't believe you about them eating kids, but..."

Her shadowy counterpart stood by her side, scanning the area ahead. Six was still really grateful that she was here; with her around everything didn't seem so scary anymore.

"It doesn't look like either of The Chefs are too close by." Shadow Six relayed in hushed tones. "And according to the security eye, one of them is sleeping on the job. So if you're quiet and always pay attention to everything, you should be able to get through pretty easily."

"I've seen that!" Six whispered back excitedly, recalling her experiences with the strange camera. "It was really creepy. I'd been in one of the rooms that it showed, but hadn't seen the camera. That might have been because I was busy hiding from The Janitor, though. I also saw some other rooms that were... interesting." Six shuttered, but forced herself to continue. Her companion seemed to know a lot about The Maw and its inhabitants, and if she could shed some light on the object of Six's recent turmoil, that would be amazing. "There was this woman... she was humming and—"

"We should keep going." Shadow Six interrupted her nervous explanation, not helping to ease Six's nerves. She jumped and whipped around, but luckily her small frame and oversized coat worked wonders to hide how erratic the movements truly were. Shadow Six now stood stiffly, her expression cold.

"Huh? What's wrong? Are you... okay?"

"I'm **fine;** let's **go."** Six was tempted to explain to her ally that people normally didn't talk with their teeth clenched when they were fine, but decided that it may not be the best idea at the moment.

Now seemingly one hundred percent focused on moving forward, the shadow girl pointed towards the hooks carrying body bags that were trundled into the vast mouth of the kitchens. "You could ride one of those in and get a bird's eye view of the place," she explained. "And while you're doing that, I can scout ahead and look for any trouble."

Six frowned. "A-are you sure? I don't know if my skinny little arms could hold me up for that long." Six giggles nervously, rubbing her arms as she gazes up at the slowly moving line. She wondered how it worked. Was there a motor somewhere? Or an extremely intricate pulley system?

"Which all the climbing around you've been doing, I'm sure you'll be fine." The shadow girl replied dismissively, and before Six could further protest she was gone. It was almost as though she had never been there at all. Whether she was skulking in the nearby shadows or somewhere much further away, it was impossible to tell.

"...Wow," Six uttered lowly, unable to help being impressed. That girl would make an amazing spy. But, back to the task at hand. _I guess I'm really doing this,_ Six thought nervously as she reluctantly approached the hooks.

Moments later, Six was whooshing through the air, smiling softly as she enjoyed her flight. Her arms, skinny as they were, didn't have nearly as big of a problem holding her up as she had expected. They only burnt a very slight amount.

When Six allowed herself to drop from her hook, she was dismayed to find herself landed on a large pile of body bags with a plop. They were cool and squishy underfoot, and squelched disgustingly as she picked her way down them. _Please let this be a misunderstanding,_ she thought desperately as she suppressed the urge to vomit. _Please let it be that Shadow Six just thought they were eating kids, but they're actually not. Please. Let it be some other kind of meat. Meat? Meat..._

"Uuuuugh, not again..." Six groaned as the turmoil in her stomach became the opposite of what it was mere seconds ago. Why did it have to be **here** and

 **now** that the hunger struck again? If The Chefs happened to come this way now, she would be screwed. One scrap of food and Six knew without a doubt they'd have her wrapped around their fingers... or dumped into a pot.

The pangs ravaged Six's insides, forcing her to her knees as that song filled her ears once again. It seemed that whoever was singing it had added a few extra measures this time, making it slightly more complex.

_Wait, those body bags aren't too far away; they're full of meat!_

_No!_ The girl screamed in her mind, trying with all her mite to push away that sudden thought. _I can't do that, I WON't do that!_

_But who knows if I'll find something else in time? Besides, I don't know for sure it's human meat. I did think before that it was a misunderstanding. And even if it is, so what? I'm so hungry, and the person is dead already. But I'm not, and this could be my only chance at survival._

"N-no..." Six whimpered allowed, curling into the fetal position and clutching at her stomach with trembling fingers. Its growling was thunderous now, seemingly begging her to reconsider her decision. But Six was not about to let it win. Inhaling sharply through her teeth and wobbling upright once more, Six continued her desperate search.

A harsh snapping sound drew Six's attention off her stomach ever so slightly, and she peered up through nearly sightless eyes, managing to pinpoint a small shape not more than a foot away. Once she had, it was all she could see.

It was furry and wiggling, squeaking pitifully ever so often. A rat. Its muscles expanding and contracting, long ropes of sinew layered over flesh and bone. Six could practically see the hot pulsating redness of them underneath the creature's skin. Oh how she wanted to see it for real. The very thought of it made her mouth water, and her little belly rumble even louder. The little animal was trapped. There was no way for it to run, to avoid its impending fate.

As Six had been fixated on the writhing animal, she had been unconsciously hobbling closer to it. Now her hand was darting out faster than one in her state should be able to move, thin fingers locking around the rat and yanking it out of one trap and into one much more gruesome. Her teeth pierced the creature's hide so easily that it may as well have not been there at all. It squealed in agony as its body was impaled, but its misery fell on deaf ears. If anything the noise was an encouragement to Six, who had completely succumbed to her primal desire.

She plunged her teeth in again and again, tearing off large chunks of meat and swallowing them just as quickly. Blood pulled in her mouth and dribbled down her chin, smearing on her hands.

The rat soon succumbs to blood loss and dies, along with Six's hunger. She dropped its mangled body to the ground, the moist **'splat'** snapping her into awareness once again.

It was almost like waking from a nightmare in reverse. One moment Six was lighter than air, delighted to have found a good meal. The next, she was standing motionless, staring down at the mutilated carcass of a rat. The rat she had just eaten alive without a moment's hesitation.

Six didn't want to believe it. She desperately wished she could play it off as some incredibly enhanced trickery. But the red stains on her hands and face, and the lingering taste in her mouth, she had to face the reality of what she had done! But was it really only her? The past few moments felt slightly unclear in her mind, as though she had experienced them from outside of herself. Even though the feeling of her teeth buried in living flesh was still incredibly vivid. Still, could it be that some sort of outside force had entered her mind, and was now forcing her to do its ugly bidding? It would explain why she felt completely fine now, when she was practically on the verge of death a moment ago. But if that were the case, it was extremely difficult for Six to perceive where she ended and **it** began. And, though she hated to admit it even to herself, there was something that felt... well, **right** about what had just happened. Was this who she was? Or who she was meant to be?

"Hey Six, I'm back." Oh no! No no no no no! She couldn't see this! She couldn't see what Six had done! But there was nowhere to run; nowhere to hide! And there was just no time!

"The coast is clear as far as I can tell, but are you doing okay? Did something happen while I was gone?"

Six wanted to hide her hands in her pockets or lick the blood from her lips, anything to make it look at least slightly like she wasn't the cause of the tiny broken body lying before her. But for some reason, she just couldn't. She found herself to be frozen in place like the kids who had found themselves on the business end of a security eye. The sudden silence she found herself in confirmed her fear. Shadow Six had seen. She knew what Six had done.

"Oh. ... Oh, wow."

"I know," Six mumbled, barely above a whisper. She hung her head in shame. "It's bad."

"Yes, it is." Her dark counterpart confirmed. Weird, her tone didn't sound disgusted. Or afraid. It sounded... almost playful. "I can't believe you would waste so much food like that. I mean you took what, two? Maybe three bites outa that? There's still so much meat left."

"Huh?" With morbid curiosity, Six glanced down at the dead rat once again. The sight of it made her almost gag though, so she turned away, not wanting to know what rat meat tasted like coming back up.

"No, that's not what I meant!" Six attempted to explain, hating how her voice cracked. "This hunger that I've been having? It's not normal. **I'm** not normal."

"How do you know that for sure? You said before that you don't remember anything before you woke up on The Maw, so how do you know you haven't always been like this? This could just be the way you are."

Six couldn't help but flinch. She had briefly considered that before, but hearing it spoken aloud gave it a whole new meaning that she couldn't explain, not even to herself.

"N-no!" She gasped, finding it hard to speak around the mysterious lump that had suddenly appeared in her throat. "That's not what's going on at all! It can't be! No! There is something wrong with me, and I'm gunna figure out what it is!" _Before I hurt anyone else,_ Six added in her mind. She couldn't pretend that wasn't a possibility, now that she knew what she was capable of. Her unusual hunger wasn't just a painful inconvenience. It was ruthless, debilitating, and demanding. It took whatever it pleased, uncaring of the consequences. And it did not like being told no. _But I will._

Six gritted her teeth, willing that thought to travel throughout her body. _I can, and will, control it. The next time that hunger comes, I'll tell it that 'this is what we're eating, because this is my body and it has to follow my rules.' And if it dares to disobey, I'll... lock it in a room and feed it nothing but vegetables. Yeah!_

* * *

 **She** felt strange. This wasn't the first time it had happened; it had been building up ever since her first face-to-face encounter with Six. What was this weird feeling?

...Maybe **she** was moving too fast. Maybe she should tone it down, just a little bit?

But why? Wasn't this what she wanted? Didn't she want to be free? _I don't even know anymore._

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: To be honest I'm not quite sure how this chapter turned out, but I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless.


End file.
